does PINTEREST KNOW EVERYTHING?

So Pinterest told me that if I braided my hair and then used a straightener on those braids, that I would end up with these beautiful waves. So naturally I click on the picture to see a tutorial and I just end up on an image. No tutorial. But I'm thinking... I like to sleep on damp braids to get pretty waves in the morning- this just might work. So I pull out my straightener and get started. Only I ended up with more of a frizzy and crimped mess. Not like the picture on Pinterest at all! But I tried several different techniques and the one I'm about to show you is the one that worked best on my hair.

Here is my hair before, completely straight. This would definitely work better though if your hair hadn't already been styled before. If your hair doesn't take well to heating tools, you may want to use some curl spray or hair spray before you start.

Split all of your hair into two parts and then braid each part and secure with a hair tie of your choosing. I found that the "waves" ended up looking better with bigger braids.

Take one of the braids and twist it tightly away from your face.

Place the straightener around the twisted braid and instead of just pulling the straightener down...

Twist the straightener in the same direction the hair is twisted. I started at the top and worked my way down the braid. Make sure you don't put the straightener where your hair tie is or else there will be a weird crease.

This is what the braids looked like after being "straightened." I repeated the twisting and straightening step one more time on each braid just to be sure.

When your hair has completely cooled, pull out your hair ties and run your fingers through the braids to release them.

This is a front view of my hair.

PROS

-Beachy waves look without adding texture products to your hair

-Fast and easy

CONS

-Inconsistent

I think this method worked okay. I usually will french braid all of my hair when it is still damp and sleep on it and I get some pretty fun waves. For some reason I thought this tutorial would produce some of those same waves but it is much different. However, this is a great way to add some texture and body to your hair really quickly without much effort.

102 comments:

Hey! I just found your blog and I think it's pretty amazing, well structured and with a lot of inspiring posts:) If you want we can follow each other, I would be very glad to have you as my new friend!:X

haha! heck yeah we are :) It is so hard to get them to approve your picture so we are so proud every time one makes it on there. Most of the time we have to submit 2 or 3 pictures before they'll accept it.

What a great tutorial! I would not have thought of this, and have been enjoying the beachy waves look since my hair is longer, but my hair is stick straight and super fine, so, keeping texture or curls and waves is difficult, but this is worth a fun try! Looks lovely on you, and what a fun blog you have! :)

So I tried doing this to my hair, but mine is in between thin and thick, so it just came out really frizzy and super tight curls. :/ Have any suggestions? Btw, My hair is never a frizzy so it was a surprise. <3Riss.

Well, this happened when I braided my hair but did not twist the braid. So twisting the braid is super important. Also the size of your braid is important. The bigger the braid the less likely you will have frizz and tight curls. Hope that helps!

I think this would be an awesome way for people with straight hair to do before they put it up in a messy bun! adding great volume and style! I really like that the waves are suttle. If I braid my hair damp and sleep on it, it turns out VERY crimped. So, this offers another choice of style!! :)

I'm glad someone's finally calling out pinterest on this, because I tried all those "beachy wave" tutorials with absolutely no success! I just ended up with half straight-half frizzy weirdness. I'll have to try your method too! :]

I tried this today and it worked great! I read the other comments and made sure I used my Aveda phomollient and then also an anti-frizz serum. I was happy that the braids did not have to be pretty because I am a bit hair styling handicap! The braids were not perfectly equal, so one side was a bit waver than the other. Next time I would divide it into 3 sections, I prefer the tighter waves. I did the flat iron twice, allowing cooling time between and then gave them a shot of hairspray. I did not touch the braids for a while allowing the hairspray to dry and the braids to cool (did my makeup meanwhile). Once I took out the braids, I then used my fingers to break-up the waves and gave an overall spray of hairspray. It gave my hair volume and they were very chill waves. Super fast and easy, I will do this again. I agree with a previous post that it would be great to do with a messy up do! My natural hair is on the thicker side with a slight wave to it when it air dries.

My hair is thick, fine and straight like yours--the only way we will ever get curl or wave all day without product is to sleep in damp braids. I got my tips bleached for an ombre look and the blonde part curls fine now with no product. Everyone is different!

Fantastic tutorial! It's the first time I see all the steps and explanations so I can understand what is going on - no skipping! I 'll try it asap!!! I'm so glad I found you!!!http://www.fashionatint.blogspot.com/

Good morning great tip. If you find that you are frizzy sleeping with braids you could either use a no frizz mousse or anti-frizz serum on damp hair before you braid. also a great old fashion way to get lots of curls for all day is called rag curls. If you need direction just message me.

In the 70s we got this same result by dampening our hair, then braiding a bit tight and leaving it overnight, in the morning you undo the braids and walla! Just run your fingers through hair and you have nice waves.

My hair has a problem holding any type of wave or curl. I didn't braid it due to the fact that I was running late. I just twisted my hair in a lot of different sections (I have super thick hair) and used the straightener. I then just undid the twists with my fingers and sprayed with hair spray and it actually held all day. That really surprised me and everyone loved it. I will deffinately be doing this again. Thanks from someone who has problem doing anything but a ponytail.

I agree with some of the other ladies.. when I sleep on my braids the end up looking a little too crimped. I tried this and it worked great for me, I did use some curl spray before and after so I think that helped! I did 4 sections of braids too because I wanted a little bit more curl and I found that the longer you hold the iron on the braid the more crimped and curled it will become.. obviously you don't want to do that too long though or you'll end up with fried hair! in the end though, I really like the soft "messy" look I achieved with this method.I'm sure I'll be doing it a lot in the summer or when my hair just isn't doing anything I want it too!

I don't have enough hair so my 3 braids were too small=a crimped look but I will have to try it on my sister who has very thick hair. A trick i discovered for myself to get a similar effect is to section hair into 4 parts like anytime you want to curl your hair. Starting from the back forward, grab about 2 inch sections at a time (depending on what size you want the wave/curl) place small flat iron about 2 inches from root twist your wrist toward your face so hair wrappes slightly around flat iron and pull through hair (I don't go all the way through end for a more natural look.) make your way forward and for the front about 2 pieces, twist the opposite way (so away from your face). Hope this helps some of you that were unsuccessful with the braids like me.

Check out my hair experiment that is very similar to this one here: http://theemmabeandiaries.blogspot.ca/2012/04/beach-waves-part-1.html Used a youtube video as inspiration :) Would work well for you if you sleep with braids in often!! Let me know what you think!

I actually braided my hair in pigtails when I got out of the shower tonight, so in the morning I'm going to give this a try. I keep seeing these tutorials all over the net that look super simple, but they just won't work on my crazy hair (it's super thick and naturally curly, but I want WAVES!). Hopefully this works - thanks for sharing! :-)

Maybe try doing more than just two braids. I have super thick hair too, and with this kind of thing, I have to do more than just two sections. Try three, or even four braids depending on how thick your hair is. It just doesn't work if there is too much hair in the braid, and it doesn't look as good if there is too little. You could also try applying styling paste (I recommend Redkin Rewind 6) before you braid it and when your hair is still wet. But if your hair is like mine, it is coarse and won't be dry in the morning. in a braid. :) I hope this helps

I didn't click on the picture, I just got the gist when I pinned it. However, I was completely wrong in how to do it. I thought she just twisted her hair, then heated it with the straight iron. So, I grabbed a handful of hair and did it. I have thick hair, so I had to do it in a few sections. Twist it tight, then I did the same technique of twisting the flat iron with the turn of the twist. It actually produced a very relaxed curly wave. It was cute. One tip though, it looks better with a thicker twist.

Amazing! I found your blog through a pin of this tutorial on Pinterest obviously =D. I love the final result! I'm most definitely going to try this today. I think I'll stay reading your blog from now on.

I do the twist and straighten technique *without* braiding it first and find that to work MUCH better! After combing your fingers through the beach curls, run some curling cream through with your fingers (I use sunsilk captivating curls gel & cream) and scrunch it in for a non-frizzy end result.

I tried this and i have shorter hair w/ layers, but it's pretty thick. I put it into 4 sections, but my hair just looks frizzy. THere are a few waves, but like you said, it's inconsistant. It was worth the shot though :)

Last night I put my hair in two braids when it was wet and woke up this morning, did the twist & straighten as you demonstrated. It came out a little crimpier than I would've liked, but after I ran the straightener through it lightly and let it set throughout the day, it looks great! Definitely doing this often this summer.

after i saw this post i started to try to think of different ways to get the cute beach waves, ways that may be more affective & i thought about if you get out of the shower with your hair wet.if you put some moose in you hair then twist your hair like you did in the picture (without the braid) in smaller individual sections & took a blow drier to it & see if that would work so i tried it & it actually works & you get more consistent waves with it. but my hair already has a little bit of wave to it when i let it dry naturally. so it might be different for someone that has naturally straight hair. i'm not sure.

I have naturally curly hair, but I straighten it. To get some wave and bounce at the end of my hair after straightening (I know that sounds weird) I just twist my hair in the back and then put it in a really messy bun and after a half hour or so I got a lot of bounce and waves at the ends of my hair. Looks more consistent than the straightener waves.

hi! i want to try this and it looks interesting but i'm a little confused for one part. after you braid the hair and twist, are you just holding your straightener at an angle, then going straight down the twist. or are you actually rotating your straightener so it goes all the way around the twist, like turninng the straightener around and around so it follows the twist?(hope that makes sense)

I was wondering if you straighten your hair first? I have super curly wringlets, and sometimes I just want exactly those waves so if I straighten my hair first and the braid and straighten the braid will it work?

Mackenzie, I have SUPER curly hair and have to straighten it allll the time lol. Luckily it does work with this the only thing i would recommend is after you braid it, spritz a little hairspary(I use Garnier Fructise with the Bamboo extract bc it keeps my hair from getting that hair-sprayed feeling) on ur hair before you twist it. This seems to help hold it, I have also spritzed it after i twisted before the flat iron and it worked well too but wasnt totally necessary :)

I have done this to my hair and my sisters hair both... the waves are more noticeable and consistent if you split ur hair in half, braid both halves into 2 braids then twist and flat iron... I like the way it turns out MUCH better than just using one braid :)

Great tutorial! Love the waves. I have crazy, frizzy, hair, so I use a little spray gel to make it do what I want. I also sleep with damp, spray gel hair up in a towel. Ill twist it in sections, then wrap a towel around it. This is a great one for the middle of the day or in the evening with 'worn' hair.. not super clean.

Skip the braids, loosly twist med sized sect of hair and slowly long press with straighter starting near the head and working your way down to the tip. move down only half the width of your straigher. I have a 1", so i moved down 1/2" at a time. It came out really pretty. It was a bit inconsistant, and took a bit of time, but it was super curly/wavy and adorable. =]